No Plans for Patarkatsishvili’s Immediate Return
Presidential candidate and business tycoon Badri Patarkatsishvili has no immediate plans to return to Georgia because of the absence of additional security guarantees, MP Valery Gelbakhiani, representing the Patarkatsishvili campaign, told reporters on December 20.
Gelbakhiani and another Patarkatsishvili campaign backroom man, Goga Zhvania, returned from Israel last night, where they had met with Patarkatsishvili.
?It is difficult to say when Patarkatsishvili will arrive as the authorities have refused to grant him security guarantees,? Zhvania, a brother of late PM Zurab Zhvania, said. ?In fact, some officials have even indicated on a number of occasions that he could be arrested upon arrival. Under such conditions it would be inadvisable to return.?
Although there has in fact never been any official indication that Patarkatsishvili may be arrested, the authorities have indeed refused to grant any additional guarantees to him, arguing that he, like any other candidate, already has immunity. The Central Election Commission (CEC) can, however, on a majority vote, remove this immunity if prosecutors provide justified reasons for doing so. The Georgian General Prosecutor?s Office said in November that Patarkatsishvili was suspected of conspiring to overthrow the government.
Justice Minister Eka Tkeshelashvili said additional security guarantees could legally not be offered, and the demand for them was, in any case, no more than a Patarkatsishvili “pre-election stunt.”
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